Though Widespread Panic has its share of Southern charm, the band probably couldn't have picked a more misleading place to start than Athens in the mid 1980s.

At that point, Athens was the capitol of new wave pop, a college town that had produced R.E.M., the B-52s, Pylon, Love Tractor and several other notable bands.

Widespread Panic seemed a fittingly new wavish name. But the band's sound, which owes more in approach to the classic Southern rock of the Allman Brothers and the freewheeling improvisation of the Grateful Dead than to the concise pop of R.E.M., caught a few people off guard.

"They heard the name Widespread Panic from the name Athens, Georgia, and we were a big disappointment to them because we were just jamming things out, and trying to get into some new harmonies, but something that wasn't thrash. It wasn't art rock. It wasn't heavy on the stage presentation or had dancing involved. Dancing that's optional, even among us," said John Bell, singer and guitarist of for the band.

Nevertheless, Widespread Panic began making headway shortly after being formed in 1985 by University of Georgia students Bell, Michael Houser (guitar), Todd Nance (drums) and David Schools (bass).

Bell and Houser were somewhat known around town, having played acoustic shows together around Athens in the early 1980s. And when the band members met Phil Walden Jr. (son of Capricorn Records founder Phil Walden) shortly after forming Widespread Panic, they made an important connection.

The younger Walden became the band's manager, and he booked the group shows around Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. The band, which by this time had added percussionist Domingo Ortiz, also got the attention of Walden's father.

"His dad, Phil was watching us and we were watching what he was doing. He was working with Ernest at that time, you know,'Hey Vern Ernest, Jim Varney. And so that was a pretty hip thing," Bell said.

Widespread Panic took another step forward in 1988 by recording an album for the independent Atlanta Landslide Records called "Space Wrangler." By this time, the band had built a strong regional following behind frequent tours.

And the elder Walden, who was planning to re-launch Capricorn Records - a label that in the early 1970s was home to such Southern Rock stalwarts as The Allman Brothers, Wet Willie and the Marshall Tucker Band - had an eye on Widespread Panic as his first singing for his reborn label.

"It wasn't a short time coming. We'd known Phil for five years. He'd been watching us and he knew that we weren't going to go away, Bell said of the Capricorn deal. "You definitely can't build a new record company, you can't put your first record out on just one sound. He knew that we'd be able to do what we're doing now two years down the road."

What Widespread Panic is doing is continuing to evolve and grow with every album. The band's self-titled 1991 release for Capricorn offered a solid introduction to the group's guitar-based blend of Southern rock, rhythm ad blues and jazz-like improvisation.

The group, now augmented by new keyboardist John Hermann, has just released "Everyday," a new studio record that finds Widespread Panic sounding a bit more rootsy and rough-hewn. The sounds are a bit more tightly structured, but there are still plenty of inspired jams.

"The album seems to be able to breathe," Bell said of "Everyday." But shoot, all the albums are good. And this one even justifies the last one. Because if you need something that just comes out and kicks you in the face you've got the self-titled (album). We call it 'Mom's Kitchen.' I wish we'd thought of that before we named it. But you know you've got to wait for that inspiration.

"And they really helped us by rereleasing 'Space Wrangler,"' Bell said, noting that Capricorn reissued the record last year with some bonus tracks added for good measure. "That took a big boost in sales. So that's really hip. It's good to know that all the albums are getting attention.

According to Bell, the songs on the new record evolved some after the band began recording at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, the legendary Alabama facility where "Everyday" was recorded.